FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — A 32-year-old man was arrested Friday for his suspected involvement in an early-morning arson in the town of Fond du Lac. According to a news release from the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's office, the man barricaded himself in his home for seven hours before the SWAT team forced him to surrender.
Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt tells NBC 26 law enforcement used a ram on the front of an armored vehicle to drive a hole through the side of the house and through the ceiling of the basement where the man was barricaded to make the arrest.
Sheriff Waldschmidt writes just before 3 a.m. Friday, the sheriff's office got a call from people who said they were woken up by their home's security system. The callers said their home's security footage showed a person spraying accelerant on their house, lighting it on fire, and running away. Sheriff Waldschmidt writes that the fire went out on its own by the time deputies got to the house. No one was injured by the fire.
According to the Sheriff's department, deputies found a man suspected of lighting the fire who lived in a nearby home. When deputies tried to get him to leave his house, Sheriff Waldschmidt writes the man barricaded himself in the basement. The news release sent Friday states the sheriff’s office SWAT team, crisis negotiators, drone team, and K9 teams were then called in.
SWAT team members were inside and outside the home. And crisis negotiators not on the scene tried to get the man to surrender for seven hours. Law enforcement gassed the home to try to force the suspect to leave.
When that didn't work, law enforcement drove a hole into the house and the basement ceiling.
"The purpose of the hole is to initiate further conversation/communication with him," Sheriff Waldschmidt wrote in an email to our newsroom Friday afternoon. The man then surrendered shortly after 1 p.m.
The sheriff's office says no one was injured while trying to get the suspect out of the house. The man was arrested and booked into the Fond du Lac County jail on multiple felony charges. The suspect's name has not been released by law enforcement.
The Fond du Lac Police Department, Town of Fond du Lac Fire Department, North Fond du Lac EMS, Fond du Lac Fire/Rescue, and Alliant Energy helped the sheriff's office on the scene.
